The American Lung Association has released its latest State of the Air report, measuring air quality and the impact air pollution has on health.
In New York and across the nation, the 24th annual report finds that ozone pollution has generally improved, thanks in large part to the success of the Clean Air Act.
David Hill is a pulmonologist with Waterbury pulmonary associates in Connecticut. He chairs the National Public Policy Committee for the American Lung Association.
“Our state of the air report looks at two major air pollutants, ozone, which commonly people would refer to as smog, and particle pollution, commonly referred to as soot," Hill said. "So the ozone is associated with both worsening asthma and worsening of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, it can actually cause asthma in kids, and may also be associated with heart disease, strokes, and premature mortality. Smog is pretty common in those hot humid days in the summer, because it forms from pollutants in the air combined with heat. So when we have hazy, hot days, the air quality tends to be bad. And that's when it's prevalent. And then particle pollution or soot is associated as well with premature mortality, higher rates of lung cancer, more heart disease, worse asthma, and COPD. Both of these pollutants are also dangerous to pregnant women and tend to be worse for people at the extremes of age.”
ALA's Director of Advocacy Trevor Summerfield says this year's report utilizes data collected between 2019 through 2021.
“This year, the Albany, New York metro area has been named among the cleanest cities for ozone pollution in the United States, for the first time," said Summerfield. "Nationally, the report found that nearly 120 million people are more than one in three people in the United States live in counties that had unhealthy levels of ozone, or particle pollution. And for the listeners today, the Albany metro area, if you are interested, does include the counties of Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren and Washington counties. So along with the good news on ozone days, however, comes some unfortunate news regarding particle pollution, which we know can exacerbate health conditions of those living with lung disease, such as asthma. And of course, can also lead to unfortunately, lung cancer as well. And Albany saw more days with fine particle pollution than it has ever.”
Summerfield notes that Albany County racked up more unhealthy days than any other county in New York that records particle pollution data. Fairfield County in Connecticut recorded a troubling 38 “high ozone” days. Summerfield says while Vermont and Massachusetts routinely score better, usually in terms of ozone and particle pollution...
"...that wasn't the case this year when it came to Vermont," Summerfield said. "Usually Burlington is always on the list of the cleanest cities, particularly when it comes to particle pollution. And this year, for the first time ever it fell off of that list."
Hill says people can take steps to protect themselves and their loved ones from harmful pollutants.
“Paying attention to the air quality is important," said Hill. "Here on the East Coast, when, when the weather is hot and humid, you want to listen for those advisories. Or you can go online to look at the air quality reports there. And if they tell you, you know, ‘don't exercise outside’ or ‘don't exercise between the hours of 12 and 3 p.m.,’ It's important to listen to that, really for everyone, but particularly if you have underlying lung disease or other medical issues. The other things you can do are, really do your best to reduce your own personal contribution to admission. So if you can walk someplace instead of driving. Less pollutants are going to be released if you can avoid burning things now. You know, that's going to decrease the amount of emissions. And if you go to our website lung.org and search for stand up for clean air. There's a whole bunch of guidelines in terms of what people can do to help clean up the air and make it safer for everyone who breathes.”
Here's a link to the report.
